The Orchid Affair
by BellaBallet
Summary: Set in 2016, during the events of Season 10. Mulder and Scully are called out to investigate the death of a fifteen year old girl at an elite private boarding school, situated on a small island off the coast of New England. The evidence suggests that her murder might be an occult crime, but the truth is far more sinister than Mulder and Scully ever expected.
1. The Body

**Chapter One**

"She's dead. They found her in the forest near her school wearing nothing but her underwear."

Skinner pushed a handful of crime scene photographs across the desk so that they could see for themselves.

"Cause of death?" Scully asked.

"A blow to the back of the head, and/or hypothermia."

"In _June_?"

"Right. The local P.D. have never had a homicide before. They're just playing doctors and nurses till the big boys come in."

"So we're talking small town?" asked Mulder.

"It's a small island community - Merton Island, off the coast of New England. Population about two thousand, if that. The law enforcement there are completely out of their depth."

Skinner turned to Scully.

"Dana, I want you to examine the body."

"With respect, Sir, haven't you got an experienced medical examiner that's a little closer?"

"I think this is a case that would befit from both your expertise," Skinner replied.

Mulder pushed the photographs back towards Skinner.

"I don't think this is really our area, Skinner," said Mulder, standing up to leave. "So if you'll excuse me, I've got a new lead on the HAARP project and an alleged sighting of an Islandic Elf in Oregan to look into, so - "

"There seems to be evidence of Occultism, Black Mass and a general consensus amongst the school community that her death is a result of Wiccan magic," Skinner replied.

Mulder sat back down.

"And now I'm listening, Skinner."

"Black Mass?" Scully raised an eyebrow. "In a boarding school?"

"That's what the preliminary report suggests."

Scully sighed. She had re-joined the X-Files to establish the link between the disappearance of pregnant women with the evidence of alien DNA in their genomes. She hadn't left her job at the hospital to investigate this kind of supernatural conjecture. She was a medical doctor, used to dealing with skin, blood, bone and matter. There might have been a time when she felt differently, but now magic and myth held nothing for her. She looked at Mulder; he was reading the case file, his eyes shining.

"Do you really think it's an X-File?" she ask him.

"Could be… " Mulder held out a photograph for her to look at more closely. "See that mark on her skin, there - just above her wrist."

"… It looks like - like a number seven, but with two small marks by it. Could be just a regular scratch or animal bite?"

"That's no animal bite. It's the Mark of Cain, Scully. The Mark of Cain is left upon the skin of a man or woman who has fallen victim of a curse. In Hebrew scriptures, the Mark of Cain served as a warning against those who might provoke God's vengeance."

Scully was beginning to lose patience.

"Mulder, this girl didn't die from a mark on her wrist! She has an acute cranial trauma, which is more than likely the cause of her death."

"Well you won't know for sure until you take a look at her," Skinner responded. "I can get you out there by late afternoon, if you're both willing to go now?"

"What's the rush?" Mulder asked.

"The Director himself has asked me to get you there as a matter of urgency."

"The director? What's Connelly got to do with it?"

"His daughter's a student at the same boarding school. 'Redfern House' it's called; costs $40,000 a year to educate your child there."

"Woah!" Mulder replied. "Next time the Bureau has a Christmas party, the drinks are on the Director."

"Connelly's chairman of the school's board of governors too."

"It's a PR stunt then?" said Scully. "He's just sending us there for damage control."

"Not necessarily. Occultism is common in small, isolated communities, Scully," Mulder replied. "And when you've got a great number of young, impressionable minds in - "

"You've already made up your mind to go - haven't you, Mulder?"

Mulder leaned over and put his hand on her arm.

"Come with me," he said. "Just take a look at the body. That's all I'm asking."

Scully had never been able to say no to him. The intensity of his pursuit for the truth and the passion of his beliefs completely overwhelmed her… and yet they were the very things that had drawn her into his world, a place that she could never regret being a part of.

"Or, you could stay here and follow-up the Icelandic Elf lead..."

"OK, fine," she said. "I'll look at the body."

"That's great," said Skinner. "Because I already booked your flights. You leave in a hour."


	2. The Arrival

**Chapter 2: The Arrival**

As the little ferry boat approached Merton Island, Mulder and Scully caught their first view of Redfern House. Set back amongst the thick forest of ancient trees that surrounded it, the dark stone towers of the East and West wings were bathed in late afternoon sunlight.

"Just imagine," Mulder said, looking out across the ocean. "Mom and Dad sit you down one night and say - _honey, pack your things - we're going to send you to live on an small island in the middle of the ocean, otherwise known as 'high school'._ It's a kid's worst nightmare."

"I'm sure it's not all bad," Scully said, her voice raised to compete with the brisk ocean breeze. "I was doing some research at the airport. Redfern House is supposed to be one of the most successful schools in America. That's where the rich and the famous send their children."

"So you're telling me that Brad and Angie jump on this rusty, old ferry every time there's a parent-teacher conference?"

Scully smiled.

"I mean think about it," Mulder continued. "What kind of parent sends their kid thousands of miles away to live with people they don't know?"

As soon as he had said it he instantly regretted it. Scully flinched and he saw her hands tighten on the rail that ran around the edge of the deck. She looked out to sea.

"Parents like us, Mulder."

Her voice faltered and she turned away from him.

"Scully, I'm sorry - I didn't mean - " he began, but the ferry horn sounded, followed by an announcement that the boat was preparing to dock in Merton harbour.

"The school are sending a driver to pick us up," Scully said, still unable to meet his eyes. "I'll see you on dry land."

"Scully -" he began, but she had already slipped into the bustling crowd of people preparing to disembark and, in a moment, she was gone.

* * *

The driver was there to meet them at the harbour. He was accompanied by Merton Island's Chief of Police, Bill Morgan, who joined Mulder and Scully on the drive to Redfern.

"We're sure glad you folks have showed up," Morgan said. "I've never seen nothing like this in my twenty eight years on the force."

"I take it you don't get many unexplained deaths?' asked Mulder.

Morgan shook his head.

"You bet we don't. We've had the occasional drowning over the years - the usual things. Tourists swept out to sea by violent storms or kids who've gone too far out into the ocean and caught a powerful under-current. Other than that…"

His voice trailed off.

"The girl who went missing," Scully asked. "Eva Johnson. Did you know her?"

"Oh sure!" Morgan replied. "Everybody knew Eva, or knew _of_ her."

His face seemed to crumple into a sudden dawning of grief.

"Poor kid," he added.

"There must be hundreds of students on role at Redfern," Mulder said. "Do you know _all_ of them by name?"

"No… No not all of them. Some of them stick out more than others, you know. Eva was distinctive from the moment she opened her mouth."

"Really?" Scully pressed him further. "And why was that?"

"Well, she was British for one. There aren't that many British kids at Redfern - they tend to go to schools in England or international school on the mainland."

"So why was Eva at Redfern, of all places?"

Morgan sat back in his seat; he rubbed his greying moustache for a few moments, thinking. Outside the tall trees obscured most of the dwindling late afternoon sun, making the light in the car flicker as they drove deeper still into the woodland. The shadow of evening was fast creeping upon them.

"I don't rightly know what brought her here," Morgan responded, eventually. "Most of them get sent here by their parents. They don't get a choice in the matter."

Just then, the dark stone facade of Redfern House appeared out of nowhere on the horizon and the car swung smoothly into the school's impressive driveway. Redfern was covered in a thick layer of ivy, it's leaves starting bright green at the bottom, then slowly turning deep red as it grew towards the upper floors and the roof.

Mulder's eyes widened.

"Holy sh-"

"I thought we were heading to the police department?" Scully asked, interrupting. "You said you were going to take us to the body. The crime scene can wait until I've established - "

"I _am_ taking you to the body," Morgan said. "She's still here."

"Still _here_?"

"Sure. They've got a walk-in refrigerator system up there in their science department - way more high-tech than what we've got downtown."

This time, it was Scully's eyes that widened.

"You put the body in the school's _science department_?" Scully's voice was rising in disbelief.

"Well of course it's gonna sound bad if you say it like that - "

"According to government guidelines, investigating teams are required to follow protocol regarding the documentation, collection and preservation of evidence until they can be transferred to a _secure_ storage facility or crime laboratory."

"Try telling _her_ that - " Morgan responded, nodding in the direction of an imposing-looking woman, waiting for them on the marble steps of the school.

"Who's that?" asked Mulder.

"That's Claudia Voisin. She's the headmistress here at Redfern."

Voisin raised a hand as they approached; Scully couldn't quite tell whether or not it was a gesture of welcome, or warning.

"And what gives a school headmistress the right to dictate to the Chief of Police where and how evidence from a murder investigation is stored?"

Morgan responded with a short, humourless laugh.

"Wait until you meet her. Sure, she's in charge of the school officially, but her sphere of influence on the island extends much further…"

Scully could feel her anger rising. It had been a long day, and Voisin's interference in the investigation was going to make it much longer.

"She's pretty hot, for a headmistress," Mulder added, trying to make amends for his comment on the ferry by lightening the tone.

His attempt at humour failed spectacularly; Scully narrowed her eyes at him and he quickly turned his gaze to window in order to avoid anymore awkward encounters until the car pulled up in front of the school.

Mulder and Scully got out of the car in a synchronised motion that had become habit after all these years. Claudia Voisin descended the staircase. With her tight black dress, red lips and long, dark hair, she looked more suited to being on the arm of a respectable politician, rather than at the head of an elite private school. She looked in her early-forties, but could have been older and aged well.

 _She's shrewd_ , Mulder thought, as he watched her eyes briefly scan both himself and Scully, making instant judgements. _Be on your guard with this one._

Voisin extended a hand to greet them.

"Agents Mul-" Scully began.

"Mulder and Scully. Yes," Voisin said, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. "Yes, I know who you are. I've be waiting to meet you both for a _very_ long time."

 **[To be continued.]**


	3. The Wait

"Feels just like home," Mulder said, as they waited for the body.

He and Scully had been assigned a temporary office in Merton's small police department. They had a sneaking suspicion that it was an empty storage cupboard, in which someone had hastily placed a desk, three chairs and a broken filing cabinet. The fact that their new 'office' had no windows seemed to confirm this.

"Did you buy her story?" Scully asked.

"What story?"

"The headmistress - that Voisin woman. Saying she'd heard about us years ago through Collins? All that stuff about them being old friends from college?"

Mulder began to sharpen one of several blunt pencils left out for them in a 'I heart Boston Red Sox' mug.

"I guess it's plausible," he replied. "I know he's an asshole and the prospect of him having friends is unlikely, but I don't see why she would make something like that up. It's too easy to fact-check."

From the moment she had first seen her standing on the grand steps of Redfern school, Claudia Voisin had made Scully feel uneasy. The feeling was like a shallow wave, lapping persistently somewhere at the fringes of her conscious mind; she could not ignore it.

"But when we were working with with the Bureau twenty years ago, Collins was just a -"

"A less important asshole than he is now?"

Mulder and Collins, the recently appointed Director of the FBI, had never seen eye to eye. Their ideologies were worlds - or rather _universes_ \- apart.

"Back then, he was just a regular agent, like the rest of us."

The pencil Mulder had been sharpening broke.

"Come on, Scully - he was ring-leader of the ' _hey look, it's Spooky Mulder!_ ' brigade. In fact, I seem to remember that Collins was the person responsible for that affectionate nickname…"

Mulder and Collins had trained at Quantico together in the 80s. That Collins hated Mulder was no secret. Out of all the trainees, Mulder had frequently achieved the highest grade on every aptitude test the Academy had given them. His ability to generate a criminal profile that was almost identical to the prospective perpetrator was, according to staff and students alike, 'spooky'. His strange obsessions with the occult and the paranormal were often knowingly over-looked by those in charge, and at Quantico this caused a great deal of jealousy and resentment.

"I'm surprised he even approved the decision to re-instate us to the Bureau," Mulder continued. "In fact -"

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Scully said.

A young officer entered.

"Agents, my superiors have asked to tell you that the b-body has arrived and will be available for your inspection within the next ten minutes."

He spoke with a monotone drawl that made him sound like he was reading a script. His watery blue eyes would not meet theirs.

"Finally," Scully replied. "Is there somewhere I can get gowned up?"

"My superiors have also asked me to tell you," the young officer went on. "That you will have twenty-four hours to complete your examination of the b-body, after which it will be returned to the family."

"Twenty-four hours?"

Scully did not like the way that these people worked on Merton Island. Not only were they trying to call the shots, but they were sending in office juniors to do their dirty work for them.

"My superiors said that the girl's family are arriving tomorrow night to take home the - "

"Look," Scully interrupted. "We are trying to solve a murder investigation, Officer…"

She looked at his name badge.

"Officer _Dill_. So you can go tell your superiors that the girl's body will be released to her family once comprehensive internal and external examinations have taken place and sufficient tissue and bodily fluid samples have been acquired and sent through to toxicology for testing. And that's only if I don't need to preserve any of her organs..."

With that, the young man burst into tears. He covered his face with his hands and his shoulders shook with child-like sobs. Mulder raised an eyebrow at Scully, who held her hands up in a gesture of innocence.

"I'm sorry for my partner's insensitivity," Mulder said, crossing to the snivelling officer. "She doesn't get out much - she's not really a people person."

He smirked at Scully, who was watching them both, her arms folded.

"Could you tell Chief Morgan that Agent Scully is ready to look at Eva Johnson's body, and that we'll discuss further details following a preliminary examination. You got that, buddy?"

The young officer nodded, and took out a threadbare handkerchief to blow his nose.

"Thank you, Officer," Scully called, as he left the room.

Mulder looked at her, trying not to smile.

"What?"

"You made him cry, Scully."

"I did not!" she protested, gathering her things together.

"Oh yes you did," Mulder continued.

"You said I was insensitive."

"I know it's been a slow start, but did you have to resort to the whole 'guts and gore' speech?"

"Everything about this investigation is pointing to homicide, Mulder. A fifteen year old girl is lying dead in the autopsy room. I'm sorry if I went a little over-board, but we can't afford to rush things when we could miss out on crucial evidence."

"Don't apologise to me, Scully," Mulder said. "I love it when you talk vital fluids."

Scully opened her mouth as if to say something, changed her mind, closed it again and headed towards the open door.

"I'll see you later, Mulder, " she said, leaving the office.

"Spooky Mulder and Scary Scully," Mulder called after her, as her footsteps disappeared down the corridor. "Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"


End file.
